SCOTLAND

Children 'must no longer go to jail'

Scotland's chief inspector of prisons last night demanded urgent action to end the “shocking” practice of sending children to adult prisons.
Dr Andrew McLellan launched a scathing attack on the policy after unveiling his report into Kilmarnock jail, which revealed five 15-year-old boys were sent there in the last year because there was nowhere suitable to put them.
Following his inspection of Scotland’s only privately run jail, he said the prison “regularly” found itself forced to contain children.
Last night the former Church of Scotland moderator said: “There should be a change in policy so it is no longer allowable for children to be detained in adult prisons.
“When we see a child in prison, what does that say about Scotland? I am so shocked when I find this is happening.”

He said most children detained in prison would be sent to Scotland’s young offenders’ institution at Polmont, near Falkirk, and stressed children were “as much as possible” kept away from adult prisoners when sent elsewhere.
But prison insiders say that while under-16s will always be closely supervised, there will occasionally be contact with adult criminals.
Figures from the Scottish Prison Service show that in 2003, five 14-year-olds and 12 15-year-olds were kept in adult jails for anything from a few hours to a few days while the authorities waited for a suitable bed to become free.
In contrast, no youngsters mix with adult criminals in England and Wales because some prisons south of the Border have children’s wings.
Dr McLellan said: “Whenever I find children under 16 are in prison I condemn it. My complaint is not how they are treated, simply that prison is no place for a child.”
The boys were kept in Kilmarnock jail’s health centre for up to two days because all the 95 places in secure units across the country were full.
The Scottish Executive admitted using adult jails as occasional holding centres for vulnerable young offenders was inappropriate and said it was investing £45 million to provide 29 new places and improve existing facilities.
John Watson, policy officer for Barnardos Scotland, said: “Young people are very vulnerable when they are placed in that situation. I am very concerned to hear about the continuing numbers of young people spending time in adult institutions.”

A spokesman for the children’s charity NCH Scotland said: “Action to remedy this problem is long overdue.”
Tory justice spokeswoman Annabel Goldie said the Executive had dragged its heels after promising an expansion of places in 2003.
“There are clearly operational issues here which demand urgent attention from the Scottish Prison Service but I am absolutely shocked to learn that Kilmarnock Prison had to house children because there are still not enough secure accommodation places.”
An Executive spokesman said: “We don’t think it’s desirable for children to be in prison, which is why we are carrying out a major expansion of the prison estate.”
Dr McLellan’s report made no mention of allegations raised in an undercover BBC documentary last month that staff had failed to carry out suicide checks, despite six suicides at the jail in five years.
He said he watched the programme and described the claims as “unacceptable”. He defended his decision not to carry out another investigation after the documentary was aired, saying he would await the findings of a probe by prison operators Premier.

MICHAEL HOWIE
27 April 2005

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=447282005

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